Lapidot to the Rescue
by Interspark
Summary: The Geode Beetles of Heaven and Earth exist in perfect harmony, so when it turns out the Heaven Beetle isn't the only one with an Avian guardian, it's down to the two least combat-ready Crystal Gems to save the day.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a story about my favourite ship and most wanted fusion. I wanted to use the idea for an Adventure Time crossover, but I liked it so much, I gave it its own story. Hope you enjoy it, and constructive critisism is appreciated!**

Peridot knelt in the soil in front of the barn, surrounded by the neighboring corn field, intently working on what looked like a model rocket, barely any taller than she was. She had her head inside an open compartment, while also squeezing her hand in, so she could make adjustments with a screwdriver. Between the quiet sound of her work, and the complaints she was muttering under her breath, Peridot didn't hear Steven, when he dropped out of the sky and landed gently next to her, with a small, plastic vivarium in his hands.

"Hey Peridot." He greeted her, gently.

Peridot yelped in surprise and banged her head on the inside of her machine, she withdrew herself and rubbed her head irritably, and turned to the source of the noise that had disturbed her. Upon discovering that it was Steven, her irritation seemed to dissipate slightly.

"Oh, Steven." She realised. "Nice of you to drop in..."

Steven grinned and pointed at her. "I see what you did there..."

Peridot evidently didn't. "What...?"

"Oh right, you didn't see, well I was just... eh, it's not important, what are you working on?"

Peridot grinned excitedly. "I'm glad you asked! Yesterday I asked myself- 'Is a meep morp still a meep morp if no one ever sees it?'" She waved her hands mysteriously, to emphasise the end of her sentence.

Steven was confused. "I can see it..."

Perdiot frowned irritably at Steven's lack of understanding. "Yes, but unlike my other work, which will presumably end up in a gallery of some sort one day, no one except you and me..."

While Peridot talked, Lapis Lazuli came strolling out of the corn field, "Oh, hi Steven!" She called.

Peridot sighed. "No one except you, me and Lapis..." Peridot and Lapis' animate pumpkin came running after Lapis and over to Peridot at her machine, barking happily as it went. "… and Veggie Head, will ever lay eyes on this one... And only I will witness its triumphant launch into space, from the Beta Kindergarten! If I've synthesised the rocket fuel correctly, the vapour trail will shine in all the colours of the rainbow!" She finished, excitedly.

"Aww, I wanna see it!" Steven whined, longingly.

"Well you can't." Peridot snapped, folding her arms. "That's the point of this piece."

"Maybe it's _not_ art, if no one sees it?" Steven suggested, in answer to Peridot's question.

Peridot sighed again. "I'm so unappreciated in my time..."

"Probably because you won't let anyone see your morp." Lapis pointed out, with a smirk.

"LET'S TALK ABOUT STEVEN'S THING!" Peridot snapped, her irritation showing. "He seems to be holding a plastic containment vessel of some kind."

"Oh, right." Steven remembered. "These are the Geode Beetles of Heaven and Earth." He held out the vivarium, for the two gems to inspect. Inside, as well as some sand, rocks and a plastic plant, were two small beetles, one dull grey, the other bright yellow, and both with a mint green gem on their back. "They're tiny little corrupted gems. They used to live in the temple, but they've been restless recently, so Garnet said I could take them out and show them around Beach City."

Sure enough, the beetles were running back and forth in the vivarium, gently colliding into each end, without purpose. Lapis leant close to the container.

"They're kinda cute for corrupted gems..." She noted.

"Yeah, I've never seen any others this small. I don't even know why we went through so much trouble to find them." Steven replied. He stuck his tongue in his cheek thoughtfully, as he recalled the adventure, then his eyes twinkled excitedly. "Hey, that was when I first learnt about fusion!"

"F... fusion?" Lapis asked.

Not noticing the tremor in Lapis' voice, Steven continued. "Yeah, I got eaten by a giant bird, so Pearl and Amethyst fused into a giant woman, pulled me straight out of its gut, and blew it up with their awesome bow and arrow!"

Before Steven had finished his recap, Lapis wordlessly walked towards the barn, with Veggie Head excitedly running after her.

"Erm... is she okay?" Steven asked Peridot, somewhat taken aback.

Peridot rubbed the back of her head, awkwardly. "Fusion's still a bit of a touchy subject with her... I've brought it up on occasion, but... this is how she reacts..."

"Oh..." Steven frowned, remorsefully. "Do you think I should...?"

"You'd best leave her alone." Peridot advised.

Steven sat down at the start of the decline which led down towards the bay between them and Beach City. "I can't imagine what she went through..." He sighed. "I mean... I _saw_ Malachite, but how that must have felt? Whenever I fuse, it's like the new fusion is my relationship with the person I fuse with... but Lapis hated Jasper..."

Peridot joined Steven on the grass. "How do you think I feel? I live with Lapis, and I can't relate with her at all. I have no idea how I can make her feel better."

"Oooh that's right, you've never fused." Steven remembered.

Peridot blushed a slightly darker shade of green. "I... I've never had a reason to. Peridots are made for their intellect, not combat, and one can just as easily brainstorm with others, without fusing with them."

"There are reasons to fuse besides getting stronger and smarter." Steven smiled. "Like when Ruby and Sapphire fuse, or me and Connie!"

Peridot processed Steven's words for a moment, then shook her head. "It's a moot point. Even if I wanted to fuse, there are no other Peridots on earth for me to fuse with..."

Steven shot her a puzzled look.

"Oh don't look at me like that!" She spat, defensively. "I may have some measure of respect for Garnet and the others, but I'm not some fancy, modern earth gem, who'll just fuse with anyone!" She calmed slightly. "On Homeworld, gems only fuse with other gems of the same type... for two different types of gem to fuse is just... wrong! That's what everyone says, anyway."

Steven laughed. "But it's not! Just because everyone says something, doesn't make it true."

Peridot poked her foot at the grass, mulling over Steven's words, without replying. She looked over to the vivarium, on the other side of Steven, in response to the tapping of the beetles increasing in volume and frequency.

"Your bugs are getting more agitated." She pointed out, changing the subject.

Steven picked up the vivarium and looked through the side. The geode beetles were running around in a frenzy, in total disregard for the walls of their habitat, or each other.

"Hey, what's up, little guys?" Steven asked, worriedly.

Steven immediately got his answer, but it didn't come from the beetles. A mighty screech echoed across the barn. It sounded far away, but Steven and Peridot could tell it was _very_ loud. Steven could have sworn he'd heard it somewhere before, and he quickly remembered where.

On the horizon, over the ocean, a mighty bird, with no eyes and a pincer-like mouth flew towards the barn. In place of feathers, it had course, dirt-like skin, which periodically gave way to bursts of fire, like miniature volcanoes, all over the monster's body. Texture aside, it was identical to the very bird Steven had recently spoken of.

"There's another one!" Steven cried in disbelief.

Despite the corrupted fowl's distance, Steven and Peridot had limited time to react, as it drew rapidly closer with each flap of its monstrous wings.

"D... deploying attack drones!" Peridot cried, leaping towards her rocket and tapping on her tablet, which lay on the ground next to it.

Five small, green machines flew out of the corn field and darted towards the approaching creature. The dogfight that ensued was short and brutal. Peridot's drones orbited the monster, unleashing a barrage of laser fire which had little to no effect. Gritting its beak slightly, the bird unleashed an inferno from the volcanoes over its body, which quickly encompassed it and expanded, incinerating the drones in seconds.

Peridot quietly groaned in despair. "Okay, new plan. We hold it off while Lapis collects the others."

"They're not there! They took Lion on a mission to the surface of the moon!" Steven cried.

"Then what do we...?" Peridot desperately began.

While the two had been preoccupied with each other, the corruption had put on a burst of speed, and reached the barn unnoticed, where, before Steven had a chance to react, she had rammed her open beak into the soil around him, and swallowed him, and the geode beetles, whole.

"STEVEN!" Peridot shrieked.

Peridot backed away defensively, refusing to simply run from the creature her friend was trapped inside, albeit unsure of what she could possibly do to help him. The bird screech angrily at Peridot and, with another mighty flap of its wings, took back to the sky. Peridot was thrown backwards by the wind, but before she fell to the ground, she found her shoulders supported by Lapis.

"Peridot, I saw Steven get eaten!" She cried in distress. "What do we do!?"

Peridot thought fast. "Okay, get ready for the Diamond of all Peri-plans!" She foreshadowed. "You fly around the creature and goad it into using its defensive shield of fire again. Then, in the brief window in which it'll be unable to repeat its attack, I'll use my metal powers to guide my new morp towards the monster like a missile!"

"But what about you and Steven!?" Lapis anxiously reminded her.

"I'll jump off the morp before it collides, and Steven, I'm sure is in his protective bubble, to prevent the insides of the bird from burning or digesting him..."

Lapis frowned, it seemed like an implausible plan, but it was the only one they had. The bird had flown away from the sea and over the countryside, headed towards Empire City. With a tensing of her shoulders, Lapis conjured a pair of water wings and launched into the air, after the bird.

Peridot leapt onto her rocket and mentally envisioned Lapis taunting the bird and evading its attack. Once she felt the right amount of time had passed, she kicked a bright red lever, and the machine immediately launched skywards. Between her concern and concentration, Peridot didn't look back to see if her hard work on the rocket fuel had paid off, instead, she focused on keeping the rocket aimed at the bird. She had never manipulated anything she was on top of before, and she could feel the rocket attempting to break free and spiral to the ground, since Peridot hadn't yet installed flight stabilisers.

Lapis reached the bird and began darting around it in a circle, waving her arms, dramatically. "Hey you!" She shouted, over the wind. "Spit out my friend!"

Although it didn't have eyes, the bird looked in the blue gem's direction and bore its serrated beak menacingly. Lapis braced herself and got ready to shoot backwards, but it turned out that Peridot and Lapis' presumptions about the creatures' abilities would be their downfall.

The bird's beak opened and a sphere of fire appeared within it, rapidly increasing in intensity. Lapis didn't realise what was about to happen, until it was too late. A stream of white flames seared from the corruption's beak and flew at Lapis Lazuli like a runaway train. She was engulfed immediately.

"LAPIS!" Peridot screamed, inaudibly, over her rocket's roar.

The flames subsided. Lapis was scorched, but her gem was undamaged. Her immediate concern, though, was that her wings had evaporated, and she was falling towards perfectly dry countryside and roads.

The creature had just attacked, and Peridot had her chance to strike, but she didn't think twice about neglecting it. With a heave of her ferrokinetic ability, the rocket spun around and shot downwards, after Lapis. Peridot could just about read the words 'Get Steven!' on the other gem's lips, but Peridot had made her choice. Before long, the falling gem gave up on frantically pointing at the bird, and extended a hand towards Peridot's, as the gap between them closed.

With the ground shooting menacingly towards them, and seconds until impact, the rocket spluttered and shook, shaking free from Peridot's control. It threw her like a wild horse and accelerated towards the ground, colliding with an explosion of rainbow-coloured smoke. As they continued to fall, Lapis grabbed the distracted Peridot's hand and pulled her into a tight embrace, before they too hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

"Uuugh... Are you okay...? Am I...? What!?"

Lapis and Peridot stepped out the cloud of sparkling, rainbow-coloured smoke, like Sardonyx from her theatrical veil. Looking down, the gems were startled to see a pair of turquoise arms. A tensing of facial muscles determined that they had four eyes, beneath a light blue visor, and neither gem were certain that they had ever been quite so tall.

"We fused!" The fusion exclaimed. "I... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! We can..." She panicked briefly, but then slowly exhaled and gently ran her hands through her hair and down her sides. "No... it feels... different... this is nice..."

Lapis and Peridot's fusion was approaching six feet tall, and had wavy, dark green hair that bunched up around her shoulders. She wore a smart, black, short-sleeved shirt over a long, sky blue dress which reached her shins, where it gave way to a pair of black combat boots. She marveled over her new form for just a few short seconds, before her gaze snapped back to the bird, vanishing towards the horizon.

"STEVEN!" She suddenly remembered.

With the time to focus, any Lapis Lazuli worth her gem could conjure a pair of wings from thin air, on a planet as humid as earth, but as the fusion leapt upwards, she fell helplessly onto her face.

"Wh... what!? Where are my wings!?"

She tensed the muscles in her hand, trying to conjure droplets of water from the air, but all that came was a seeping vapour. What was happening? Neither gem had ever heard of a fusion being weaker than her individual components. Garnet was unable to wield Ruby and Sapphire's powers over temperature, but those were neither deliberate, nor something either them, or Garnet ever needed, the fusion _desperately_ needed Lapis' water wings right now!

She saw several shards of Peridot's rocket scattered across the grass. She reached out to one, experimentally. Even Peridot could have lifted and summoned them towards her with relative ease, but when the fusion attempted to do the same, the shards didn't even twitch.

"UGH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS CLODDY FORM!?" The fusion cried. She stamped her feet and squeezed all four eyes shut in frustration, meaning she didn't notice the tiny arcs of green electricity leaping across the grass from her feet. "Why... can't... I... do... _ANYTHING_!?"

The end of her sentence was punctuated by an ear-splitting boom, and the fusion's vision was obscured by glaring, green light. Lapis had never heard the sound before, but thanks to Steven, Peridot and her fusion knew it was the natural earth phenomenon known as 'lightning'. Steven had convinced Peridot that lightning was inconsequential, but after this bolt struck, the fusion instantly found herself amidst the clouds, looking down on the country side as she fell back down towards it.

Rather than fearful, the fusion smiled, then she started to chuckle, until she was roaring with laughter, over the howling wind. "Lightning powers!" She triumphantly cried..

Dozens of human motorists had stopped to stare at the enormous flaming bird that had just flown overhead. Most of them were certain that it would be the strangest thing they saw that day, until they heard the crackle of thunder, accompanied by the miniature storm of green lightning bolts, as it darted along the clouds in the bird's direction.

The fusion leapt through the air, an explosion of lightning with every step, until she was freefalling, directly above the corrupted fowl. "Okay, be careful..." She reminded herself, as electricity danced between her fingers in preparation. "We can't risk hurting Steven."

Lapis and Peridot's fusion clearly wasn't built for subtlety, so it was no surprise when the bird turned its beak upwards to them, it opened its mouth for another incendiary attack, but it was far too slow. With a flash of light, the fusion materialised next to the bird's head and delivered a devastating punch, which sent its head spinning 180 degrees to the side with a feeble wisp of smoke.

The bird span to the side and slashed with its claws, but its attacker was already gone. She had shot skywards, where, with a swing of her arms, she commandingly threw a lightning bolt at the bird's neck and another at the base of one of its wings.

With an anguished cry, the bird began to fall, slowly rotating in the air as it did. The fusion bolted downwards and pressed herself against its belly and, with a storm of green sparks from the soles of her feet, sent it accelerating towards the ground. The crash landing that ensued was accompanied by an explosion of dirt and, with a feeble whine from the corruption, it coughed up a very surprised-looking Steven, with the Geode Beetles still in his hands.

"Steven!"

The fusion darted to the other side of Steven with a crack of lightning and securely caught him in her arms.

"Lapis! Peridot!" Steven cried in disbelief. " _Lapidot_...?" He proposed, squinting suggestively.

The bird climbed back to its feet and screeched angrily. Streams of fire erupted from the volcanoes around its body and it lowered its head in an attack stance. The fusion put Steven down and similarly braced herself. She turned to Steven and winked with two of her eyes.

"I was thinking something more like... Jade."

Jade launched towards the bird with an explosion that made Steven stagger backwards, and punched its beak with her bare hand, sending it sliding backwards, its talons leaving trails in the dirt as it did. In retaliation, the bird spread its wings and flapped forcefully. To Jade's surprise, the wind it kicked up ignited, and sent her flying backwards in a blaze of fire.

"Jade!" Steven cried, as the charred fusion flew backwards.

Steven ran towards her as the bird opened its beak for another linear blast of flames. Steven's shield materialised just in time to defend the stunned fusion, before they were all roasted.

"Let's take it on together!" Steven cried over the persisting inferno.

Jade climbed to her feet, still crouching behind the shield. She grinned smugly and cracked her knuckles. "Thanks for the help Steven, but you can leave this to the pros!"

She darted out from Steven's cover, to a safe distance from the young half-gem, shielding Peridot's gem from the flames with her forearm, before blasting skywards. The tiny green glow disappeared amongst the dark clouds forming overhead. The bird stopped its onslaught and looked up, anxiously. Steven did the same, without dispersing his shield.

In the sky, directly above the monstrous bird, the clouds were beginning to swirl around in a circle. Green lightning bolts crackled back and forth threateningly. Just as it looked as though the bird was about to turn tail and fly for its life, a bright white bolt, the width of a train tore through the clouds, and engulfed the bird, sending Steven flying backwards, stunned and blinded, but unharmed. The roar of thunder persisted for several seconds, until the lightning bolt slowly thinned, and faded away to nothing. The clouds parted and began to disperse, and silence ensued.

With a quiet flicker of green sparks, Jade materialised next to Steven and collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. "I... might have overdone it..." She giggled gently.

"WHAT?" Steven shouted, over the ringing in his ears.

Jade and Steven looked over to the enormous crater where the bird had recently stood. The only trace of it, remaining, were several dozen red gem shards, periodically imbedded in the dirt. The two shared a nervous look, before they realised what was about to happen.

"BUBBLES!" They shouted in unison.

The two of them almost tripped over their own feet in their hurry to climb over the lip of the crater and start bundling shards into their arms. Steven dropped the gems into his outstretched shirt, sending them back to the temple, several at a time, while the far less practiced Jade struggled to keep up. She held one handful of shards at a time, gritting her teeth anxiously as turquoise bubbles appeared, much slower than Steven's.

With barely a quarter of the shards sent back to the temple and barn, the remainder began to glow and rise into the air. Steven and Jade backed towards each other defensively. The shards formed into tiny black birds, each consisting only of a pincer-like beak and a pair of wings, which were each immediately engulfed in flames.

"Steven, bubble!" Jade ordered, commandingly.

With only a small degree of concern for his incredibly powerful new friend, Steven lifted his arms and a bubble of pink light protectively surrounded him. Some of the birds had already begun to dive at the gems, like darts, but they either bounced harmlessly off Steven's bubble, or were swatted away by Jade, with a shower of sparks.

Jade climbed clumsily on top of Steven's bubble, where she clenched her fists, tensed the muscles in her arms, and felt her remaining power coursing through her physical form. With a cry of strained effort, she threw her arms out and a bright sphere of electromagnetic energy expanded from her, and stretched across the crater, each bird shuddered painfully as the pulse passed by them, after which they were swiftly rid of their physical form, leaving their shards to fall to the ground, and be caught inside turquoise bubbles, moments before landing.

"That... was... amazing!" Steven cheered happily, after Jade had climbed down from his bubble, and he had dispersed it. "You're like the fastest, strongest, coolest fusion ever! Oh, but don't tell Garnet I said that... aw man, she's gonna be so excited though!"

While Steven excitedly recapped the highlights of the battle, Jade stood upright and looked towards Beach City. The vapour from Peridot's rocket had risen higher, and the twisting trails it had left had merged, leaving a glittering, sparkling rainbow-coloured path, leading back towards Beach City.

"So... how does it feel?" Steven asked, optimistic, but hoping it wasn't too personal a question.

Jade smiled contently. "It feels new, and exciting, and fun! But mostly...? It feels right. And you know what? I think Lapis finally understands Peridot's morp now."

"Oh yeah?" Steven asked, smiling at Jade's answer. "Because I still don't think I do..."

Jade rolled her eyes irritably. "Some things are just nicer if you get to keep them all to yourself..." She explained. "I know I'm biased, but personally, I think the best things are the ones you only share with the people you care about the most."

Steven smiled, warmed by Jade's sentiment. It sounded like something Garnet would say, while still being cheesey like Peridot, and cool like Lapis.

"Come on, let's go home." Jade suggested.

Steven gasped. "Do you think you could carry _me_ in a lightning bolt?"

Jade chuckled. "I think I'm all lightninged out. Besides, how about we don't risk it?"

Steven kept happily talking about Jade and her powers, as, hand in hand, the three of them walked home.


End file.
